4. The Physical Setting:
A. The Universe.
By the end of the 8th grade, students should know that:

• Large numbers of chunks of rock orbit the sun. Some of those that the earth meets in its yearly orbit around the sun glow and disintegrate from friction as they plunge through the atmosphere and sometimes impact the ground. Other chunks of rocks mixed with ice have long, off- center orbits that carry them close to the sun, where the sun's radiation (of light and particles) boils off frozen material from their surfaces and pushes it into a long, illuminated tail.

4. The Physical Setting:
A: The Universe.
By the end of the 8th grade, students should know that:

• Large numbers of chunks of rock orbit the sun. Some of those that the earth meets in its yearly orbit around the sun glow and disintegrate from friction as they plunge through the atmosphere and sometimes impact the ground. Other chunks of rocks mixed with ice have long, off- center orbits that carry them close to the sun, where the sun's radiation (of light and particles) boils off frozen material from their surfaces and pushes it into a long, illuminated tail.

Language Arts Standard 7.
Level II (Grades 3-5) Benchmark 1:
Uses reading skills and strategies to understand a variety of informational texts (e.g., textbooks, biographical sketches, letters, diaries, directions, procedures, magazines).

Language Arts Standard 7.
Level III (Grades 6-8) Benchmark 1:
Uses reading skills and strategies to understand a variety of informational texts (e.g., electronic texts; textbooks; biographical sketches; directions; essays; primary source historical documents, including letters and diaries; print media, including editorials, news stories, periodicals, and magazines; consumer, workplace, and public documents, including catalogs, technical directions, procedures, and bus routes).

Prerequisites
Students should:

• Understand that the Solar System consists of planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and the Sun.
• Recognize that there are chemical elements and compounds.
• Recognize that the Sun is the center of our solar system, around which other celestial bodies orbit.
• Be able to read grade-level appropriate material.
• Understand the difference between a fact, a legend and a myth.

Common misconceptions
Students may think that:

• The solar system only consists of the Sun and planets.
• Comets are not a part of the solar system.
• Comets are similar to asteroids.
• All comets always look the same and don’t change their appearance.
• Comets come from regions outside the solar system.
• Comets are composed of the same material as asteroids.
• Comets always have tails.